Girija and Viru, recipients of the 2006 Huntington ' Great Rosarians of the World' award, garden in S. India on a mountaintop. Viru is a breeder, working with 2 Indian species, R.clinophylla and R. gigantea , to create 'Evergreen' warm climate roses. Girija is researching the rose's history in India, and together they are endeavouring to put India on the rose map of the world.

[From Rose Breeders of India, by Dr. N.K. Dadlani]p. 71-72: ...M.S. Viraraghavan, a civil servant who preferred his hobby and pursued it with great vigor and vision and who used complex crosses, involving many parents to create a larger variability to base his selections, starting with 'First Offering' gave us some beautiful roses including 'Priyatama' (first HT rose in the hand painted series in the world), Mahadev, Kanchi, Vanamali, Priyamvada, Bhagmati and Abhaya 87....(Viru, as he is called by his friends), has added a refreshingly new approach to rose breeding in India...sustained his interest in developing roses suitable for the tropics...p. 75 Viraraghavan, in the recent years has sincerely committed himself to breeding roses for the tropical conditions, using wild Rosa species, particularly Rosa clinophylla (R. involucrata) and R. gigantea. His ganges Mist, Silver dawn and Ganges Nymph are from R. clinophylla and Manipur Magic, Sir George Watt, Golden Threshold and Allegory of Spring are some of his gigantea hybrids.